The Light Taming Alchemist
by The Melancholy Wanderer
Summary: I dodged slashes and stabs, doing everything in my power to protect my brothers and myself.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Destiria jumped out of the way of another destructive blast and then ran up close, hoping to get a slice of that damned Scar with her dual swords. She got close and swiped but once again she was too slow, Destiria couldn't catch him and she fell back to keep out of range of the blasts that Scar kept producing. Soldiers were coming now, but she wouldn't let any off them get hurt by one of Scar's blasts, especially Mustang's group, so she mentally resolved to keep him away from the soldiers, besides he wanted to pass judgment only on state alchemists, right?

With the distraction of the army arriving, Destiria had forgotten completely about Edward and Alphonse. She pivoted and looked back just in time to see Al's dismantled armor go flying across the ally. She could feel herself screaming Alphonse's name and running over to make sure that his blood seal was ok. The rest, she decided, could be dealt with later.

To her left she could hear her idiot twin brother screaming at Scar, like that would help one bit, but all Destiria could do was make sure Al was ok, because if he wasn't, she'd never forgive herself. In some non-panicking part of her brain she knew it was weird to be worried about a seven foot tall suit of armor, but that thing was still her brother.

"Dessi?" came Al's still child like voice, "Dessi, I'm ok."

That was all she needed to hear before returning to help that idiot Destiria regretfully called her brother. He and Scar were playing a deadly game of cat and mouse, but she couldn't decide who the cat was and who the mouse was. In a sudden burst, Destiria got an idea and whistled in a low pitch, and she watched fervently for Ed to signal back that he had heard me and was ready. She plunged back into the fight completely, but when ever she struck out at Scar, he would keep her at bay with those destructive blasts. As Ed and Destiria dodged another blow from Scar, she felt two fingers tap her back twice. It was the sign that Ed was finally ready for their plan to be put in motion.

Edward took point and fought head on with Scar while Destiria fell back, put her hands together and closed her eyes. She concentrated on feeling the sunlight and its heat energy. After sudden temperature drop she could feel the energy morphing into the dark substance that I specialized in and called "tamed light". Destiria opened her eyes and pulled her hands apart, bringing with them the tamed light. She whistled once, high and shrill, hoping that it would be enough warning for Ed to move out of the way.

Unfortunately, Destiria was so focused on her light taming that she didn't see Edward's arm get smashed to pieces by Scar. So she was completely unaware of the fact that her brother would have died had she waited another second.

She curled her hand into a fist in order to use the tamed light like a whip made of mist, most definitely there, but hard to notice if you aren't looking for it. A flick of her wrist and the tamed light coiled around Scar's leg, knocking him off of his feet, but Scar quickly rolled to his feet and shot a destructive blast right at me. Quick as lightning Destiria spread her right hand in order to form a wall of tamed light; Scar's blast shattered the wall and sent her flying backward into the adjacent building. Helplessly, she could feel herself peeling from the wall and falling to the ground. The girl hit the ground with her right leg curled under her in an awkward position so that the auto-mail made a sickening noise as it driven into the concrete. Scar walked over to her and with out a word tried to grab her so that he could do that disgusting "explode from the inside" thing that he had done to Nina. Destiria put her left arm up to shield myself and a shock wave jolted through her body as Scar's hand touched her arm. It was as if she could feel every bolt, nut, and screw in her arm, tearing itself away from the metal sheets it held together. Scar looked amazed at the fact that the young alchemist he had just tried to kill was still alive even though her left arm quite literally fell to the ground in a heap of scrap metal.

"So you have challenged God and failed as well," Scar said with no emotion in his voice, "Here and now you shall receive judgment for your sins."

It was about this time that Destiria's cold hand touched Edward, who she had managed to back into as she scrambled away from Scar. Destiria looked up into Edward's face and saw anger and hate twisting across his usually intense but still young and innocent face. It was a horrible pained face that had was unaccustomed to the expression of hate. Edward looked at Destiria, but if he noticed her look of exasperation, he didn't let on.

Edward leaned down and whispered in Destiria's ear, "Don't you dare do anything stupid to try and stop me, I'm doing this for your own good," she opened her eyes, unbelieving; to stare at her brother but his face was unreadable. But Destiria figured out what Edward had meant soon enough as he pushed her behind himself and looked at Scar with a challenging face.

"You came for judgment today, so judge me, but leave my sister and brother alone."  
"Your sister Destiria is a state alchemist, she must be judged as well. But your brother will be sparred so long as he does not interfere."  
"No God damn it! Leave her alone. Leave them both alone. At least let her get away for today. You can kill me if you let my siblings escape."  
"Shut up Edward! What are you saying?" Destiria yelled as Al protested from somewhere behind her.

Destiria turned around to seek the help on the army, to find Lt. Hawkeye who was taking aim from behind her. She knew it would give Hawkeye away but Destiria wanted to at least give a target for Hawkeye to hit.  
"The arm!" she yelled, "The right arm!"

And before Destiria could think another thought, four bullets were fired into the air. Two bullets flew off target and missed Scar completely, one bullet chipped a piece off of Scar's sunglasses and one hit him in the right shoulder. That was enough to stop Scar in his tracks. Destiria watched the army swarm in to surround Scar, and made sure both her brothers were safe before suddenly feeling like the entire world started spinning. The concrete rushed up to meet her face, somewhere far away, people were shouting her name.

_I was ten years old again, Edward and Alphonse and Mom were all there. It started with Ed and I were fighting again, it was always a contest about who was the better alchemist. One would always try to out do the other. Today it was the best at transmuting figurines from our glass marbles. Ed drew a complex circle around his marbles, put both hands on the circle and with a flash of blue light, there was suddenly a glass carousal horse with hints of blue, green, yellow, and red spread through the inside of the horse. I smiled, knowing that I could top that, and set to work drawing my transmutation circle. A flash of purple light and I had produce a bouquet of roses, each with concentrated colors in the delicate petals. We both knew what came next, we scooped up our creations and ran to find mom. She came out of the kitchen to see us, her eyes widened at what we held. She smiled when we asked her __whose__ creation was better, and she told us that both of our creations were amazing just like she always did._

_Her smile, her laugh, her beautiful face, they were all perfect in our eyes. She was everything to us, from the meals that she cooked during the day, to the nights when she would hold us. I could feel her chestnut brown hair tumbling over my sandy blonde hair that refused to ever keep itself under control. I could see her leaning down to hug me, but suddenly the dream changed into something horrible..._

_All I could see is our mistake, our transmuted mother, lying there in a pool of blood. I remembered the pain exploding through out my body and blossoming in my right leg. I heard my twin cussing and crying, I saw his left leg missing. I looked for Alphonse but I knew that he was gone, taking by that monster that called himself the Truth. _And I woke up...

Edward was sitting on the edge of my bed with his head wrapped, staring at the ground. I attempted to sit up but groaned audibly as a stabbing pain stabbed my ribs. Ed looked down at me with a tired expression.

"Oh, you're finally awake."  
"What happened?"  
"Well, you broke two ribs, got a serious concussion, and smashed your auto-mail leg. As well as got your arm ripped off like me," Ed said flatly.  
"Ok, that was not exactly the answer I was looking for, but that will work for me. Where's-"  
"Alphonse? Outside talking to Armstrong."  
"Ugh- Cause that's exactly who I want to see."  
"Ha ha ya, You sleep really loud, do you know that? You talk and move around in your sleep. What were you dreaming about?"

Destiria had remembered her dream perfectly but wasn't in the mood to talk about it, so she shrugged her shoulders and kept her mouth shut. Ed laid across the end of her bed, fine with the silence. It was like that for about ten minutes, an easy silence between them. Nothing needed to be said, they just knew how the other person felt, like twin telepathy. But all good things must end she supposed because ten minutes later the door burst open with such force that it slammed against the wall with a sickening crack and left a gash in the wall's paint. Destiria sighed for she knew what was coming, and there was no escape.  
"Destiria! Oh you poor darling, you are finally awake!" crooned Major Armstrong.

Ed leaped off the bed and was leaning against the wall where Destiria shot him what she hoped was a murderous glance, but she couldn't do much else because Major Armstrong was hugging her hard enough to knock the wind out of her lungs and make her eyes feel as if they were being squeezed out of her head. Al stood in the doorway looking as sorry and abashed as a suit of armor could look.  
"Um- ya… Major Armstrong could you let go of me… I'm not breathing."  
"Oh Destiria, your leg and arm of metal have been reduced to nothing! We must go get that fixed as soon as possible!"  
"Um- sure, Ed, have you contacted our mechanic?"  
"And get hit through the phone with a wrench! I don't think so."  
"Hit through the phone with a wrench, really Ed? Let's be practical for five minutes, shall we? Fine if you're going to be a child, I'll call her."

Destiria pulled herself up into a sitting position, then quickly pulled herself around and hopped out of bed. And, fell on her face. Destiria whipped her head around to look at her legs with a what the hell expression and looked at her right leg as if noticing its absence for the first time. She touched her leg where the skin and a thin ring of metal met and then ended abruptly. Tears filled the corners of her eyes, which she closed tightly.  
"Please leave."  
"What?" Armstrong and Edward said in unison.  
"I said leave," Destiria said through clenched jaw.

Armstrong left like he had been asked but Ed moved to stand behind Destiria, sinking to the floor. He put his one arm, the left one, on her shoulder. After a moment Destiria turned her face into Edward's shoulder and cried silently, her back shaking gently. After the tears had subsided, Destiria looked at Edward and quietly asked,

"Why would you do something like that Ed?"  
Edward, realizing immediately what she was talking about, looked up at the ceiling and sighed, "I couldn't let him kill you, either of you. I couldn't live with myself if you got killed, hell, I could barely live seeing you passed out on the ground."  
"Edward," Destiria said with a new intensity in her voice, "we need to keep living so we can find a way to get Al's body back, you got that? I can't do that alone."  
"You still have Al, and if it would have helped you to escape, I would have-"  
"Are you listening to me? If someone killed you I have no idea what would happen to me, I'd be so angry that I would hunt that person down and make them wish they _could_ be killed," Destiria's voice changed and became wobbly, tears gathered in her eyes again," Ed, I'm only half a person without you."

Tears slid down Destiria's cheeks and the Elric twins held each other even tighter. They held their embrace for what seemed like forever, each drawing on each other's strength to keep moving. It was a sad picture, a pair of twins holding each other with only one arm each, tears sliding their faces. They looked so much younger and more vulnerable sitting on the floor in a hospital room, but also they looked untouchable, like each twin would fight to the death for the other. The moment was broken up by a nurse with short brown hair and a confident smile, entering the room.

"It's time for the Elrics to go to bed," she announced then seeing us she blushed, "Um, my I disturbing something?"  
Edward laughed looking embarrassed," Not at all, I was just helping Destiria up.

The nurse raised her eyebrows but said nothing. Edward got to his feet, wrapped his arm around Destiria and lifted her to her one foot and she hopped up on to the bed. Edward followed the nurse out of the room, but turned to look at Destiria who was staring at the ceiling with her arms behind her head. The lights turned off and Destiria fell asleep quickly hoping sleep would heal her ribs faster so that her and her brother could get their auto-mail fixed. She dreamed again…

_I remembered sitting in the house at night after Mom died. I always missed Mom more at night after Ed and Al had gone to sleep. The nights when it rained were always the worst, flashes of lightning would turn all of the objects in the room that I had looked at for years into monsters, grotesque monsters that came for me in the flashes of light. That's why I started reading at night, I would read until I feel asleep uncontrollably._

_After I started reading at night, I started to soak up information even more quickly than my brothers. I would become so immersed in the theories and laws of alchemy that I could literally see the knowledge spread out beneath my eyelids, my brain became a working encyclopedia of alchemy. Then one night I read s theory about transmuting light into a dark substance, but it had an extremely complex transmutation circle and I forgot all about it the next morning. I awoke the next day…_

It took a minute for Destiria to realize that she was still in the hospital room. The moon was still up, holding onto that peaceful hour before dawn broke. She closed her eyes again but was unable to fall asleep. Destiria didn't feel alone in the room even though she couldn't hear any breathing or moving, so as a test she called out softly.

"Alphonse?" she asked with out opening her eyes.  
"Wha-? How'd you-? But you never opened-," Alphonse responded, all of this words and sentences running together. Destiria smirked, still not looking at Al.  
"I just knew, who else would sit in my room all night."

There was a pause. A long pause. Alphonse looked down at Destiria who had fallen asleep again. But this time her face was smooth and serine instead of creased and worried. Al got up and walked out her room and into Ed's, acting as the silent, never sleeping guardian of his older siblings.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, Destiria is my character though.**

A week had to slowly crawl by before the Elrics were let out of the hospital. Edward lead the charge out of hospital, leaving Alphonse to wheel Destiria and try to catch up but they were stopped by Major Armstrong, Colonel Mustang, and Lt. Riza.

"Full Metal, Light Tamer, Alphonse," Mustang dryly.

"Colonel!" all three siblings said at the same time, saluting. Destiria snickered at Edward left handed salute, Ed kicked her wheelchair in response.

"What are you doing here Mustang? Shouldn't you be inside hiding from the rain?"

Mustang sighed, knowing that talking to the Elrics, especially Edward, would be tough. But he continued anyway, "Elrics I have accepted your request to return to Resembol to get your arms and leg fixed."

"Um, thanks Colonel but we already knew that. You didn't need to come say good bye or anything, we'll be back soon," Destiria said with a mix of confusion and suspicion.

"Oh, I didn't come to see you off, I came to introduce Major Alex Louis Armstrong as your bodyguard who is to accompany you three to Resembol and back."

Destiria would have laughed at Edward's expression had she not been so appalled herself.

"We don't need a bodyguard! We're not children! Anyone but him!" Edward twitched a little.

"Scar is still at large and there is no way any of you can fight him off in the condition that your currently in," Riza stated in a business like tone.

"But, I can still fight," Al said taking a step forward. He tripped on Destiria's wheel chair and fell down, breaking apart as he hit the ground.

"Alphonse," all of the people gasped.

Edward dropped to his knees quickly, "Al are you ok?"

"Ya I'm fine," Al looked down, "aw, man, first you two fall apart and now I'm in pieces, what next?"

"Oh god Al, you scared me," Destiria said a tear rolling down her face.

"Sir, I'll go get a box," Hawkeye said to Mustang then quickly walked away.

"Well that settles it," Mustang said a bored look," once we get Alphonse packaged up, you will go to Resembol with Major Armstrong."

**Authors Note: I know this was mostly dialouge but it was more of a set up for my next chapter. If you people have any form of criticism, please tell me.**


	3. Chapter 3

The train bumped and bounced on its way to the east. Edward and Destiria Elric sat across from Major Armstrong who was still going on about his family's history which the Elrics had stopped paying attention to about an hour ago. Alphonse sat in the cargo hold after the station workers had told the Elrics that a box of messed up armor could not go on the passenger part of the train. Edward had almost punched the man in the jaw except that he was supposed to pretend that Al was in fact an empty suit of messed up armor.

The train hit a particularly rough piece of track which jarred Destiria's wheelchair into motion. As it lurched forward, Destiria awoke from dozing off, a small cry escaping from her lips. Major Armstrong stopped his speech in order to grab the rogue wheelchair and pull it back to its original position and set the brake again. Destiria muttered something that could have been a thank you but nobody could be sure. Major Armstrong just sat down and picked up his story from where he had left off. Edward shoulders shook as he suppressed a snicker.

"Shut up midget," Destiria said to Edward maliciously.

"Midget? Midget! Who are you calling a midget so small he he'd drown in a foot of water!"

"Hush Edward, you're making a scene, as usual," Destiria chided then added in her thoughts, _He didn't even realize that I'm his twin and we're the same height, idiot._

The rest of the day dragged on, Armstrong talked to nobody, Edward visited Alphonse and Destiria had to just sit there and cough every once in a while. Night came and the Elrics fell asleep, Destiria slept leaning on the side of the train sit next to her, Edward slept stretched across his seat with his stomach exposed.

When mid-morning arrived as the train pulled into Liesenburgh. Armstrong was looking out the window at the station.

"What a fine town! Liesenburgh, what a beautiful undiscovered jewel of a town! How-," Major Armstrong stopped suddenly, mumbled to himself a little, then poked this head out the window and yelled," Dr. Marcoh! Dr. Marcoh it's me Major Armstrong!"

A short, old man with thin black turned around, blanched and then hurried of through the tangle of people.

"Who was that Major?" Edward asked.

Armstrong stuck his head back inside, "I believe that was Dr. Marcoh. A very distinguished alchemist I met in Ishbal. I believe he did research on the Philosopher Stone while there."

Edward's and Destiria's eyes widened as the looked at each other. a knowing look passed between them as Edward quickly stood up and Destiria straightened up in her chair.

"Hey, Major, lets get off," Edward said.

"But I thought we weren't supposed to get off at Liesenburgh," Armstrong said.

"Ya but if that Dr. Marcoh guy worked on the Philosopher's Stone," Edward started," then he probably tell us how to make one!" Destiria finished.

"But, what about your limbs and Alphonse?"

"We're stilling going to get our body's fixed and one of you two can grab Al," Destiria said reasonably," Let's go."

Armstrong pushed Destiria out of the train and left the Elric twins outside the station as he ran off to get Al. The sun shined down on the old wood station as Edward and Destiria surveyed their surroundings. Destiria was acutely aware of people turning their heads and staring at them, Edward as usual was completely oblivious.

"Hey Dessi"

"Hm?"

"Do you think that guy the Major saw is really Dr. Marcoh?"

"I don't know, you should ask someone."

Edward turned around and grabbed the first person he saw," Hey, do you know a certain doctor, short, old black hair, a really wrinkled face, I think his name is Marcoh?"

The guy looked at Edward suspiciously. Edward quickly spun a lie about get help for his twin sister. Destiria coughed realistically and tried to look tired and sick. Apparently, that was all the guy needed to hear because he opened right up about the doctor.

"Oh you mean Doctor Maulo, he's awesome he can heal everyone and he doesn't care if you pay him or not. There's nothing he can't do, there's just this flash of light and you're cured!"

Edward told the man thank you and then looked down the train for Armstrong," Alchemy."

"What?"

"The flash of light, it has to be alchemy."

"But the name is wrong, the Major said 'Marcoh' that man said 'Maulo'."

"The guy probably got the name wrong- Hey, there they are."

Armstrong arrived with Alphonse's box resting on his shoulder with Al inside acting like a broken suit of armor, not someone's little brother.

After asking a few more questions about Dr. Marcoh/Maulo's whereabouts, the Elric's and Armstrong found Dr. Marcoh's house. Edward marched right up to the door and knocked loudly. The door flew open with a crack and Edward found himself looking into the barrel of a rather large pistol. Dr. Marcoh muttered a lot of nonsense about not going back and waved his gun around until Major Armstrong threw Al's crate at him, knocking Marcoh down and the gun just out of reach. Then Armstrong explained to Dr. Marcoh just who the Elric's were and what they were doing here. Dr. Marcoh got up shakily and told them all to get inside.

Dr. Marcoh sat them at a small table inside of his poorly lit house, and told the Elrics about the Ishbal war. He talked about how horrible the war was, how he had escaped the military with his research and came to this town to hide as a doctor and hopefully wash away same of the dirt on his hands. When the doctor finally ended his story, everybody reveled in what they had heard until Edward, thick as ever, spoke up:

"What's your point?" Destiria kicked him from under the table and translated his question into something with a more useful answer.

"Doctor, what exactly were you researching during the Ishbal war?"

Marcoh sat for just a second before looking at the ceiling and saying with no emotion," The Philosopher's Stone, I created Philosopher's Stones and escaped with one as a part of my research."

He got up and rummaged in a cabinet until he pulled out a vial filled with a blood-red liquid. Edward made a high pitched noise, and Destiria and Alphonse gasped as Dr. Marcoh poured the liquid on the table, after a second, the liquid rose up to form a sphere. Edward reached out and poked the "stone", it squished inward and then reformed.

"How can this be a Philosopher's Stone? It's a liquid."

"The Philosopher's Stone, the Great Elixir, the Celestial Stone, the Red Tincture, the Fifth Element, just as the Stone has many names, it also has many forms. However the remained purely experimental creations until the end. Imperfect objects that would eventually become unstable and useless."

Destiria thought about Cornelo had how his stone had run out and harmed him, the thought made her shutter. But even so, she put a hand on the table and spoke her thoughts:

"So you're saying that they were 'imperfect' but with further research, a perfect one could be made!"

"Can you show us your research Dr. Marcoh? Please?" Edward asked, trying to hush the excitement in his voice.

Dr. Marcoh looked to Major Armstrong, "Is the boy really a State Alchemist?"

"Yes, they are both State Alchemists."

"Probably roped in by the research money and privileges. How many relinquished their licenses after Ishbal? And now even children are becoming pets of the military."

Edward had had enough of the adults talking about them like they weren't there, he slammed his hand down on the table, "I know it was a dumb decision, but until we accomplish our goals-"

"-we are going to sit on this bed of thorns," Destiria finished with a dead serious look in her eye.

Dr Marcoh finally looked at Al with a hard expression, "So you three ignored the law… I can't believe you successfully transmuted a human soul. With your combined abilities, you three might be able to create a perfect stone."

"So you'll-!"

"Which is exactly why I _cannot_ show you my research."

"But!"

"This is the end of this discussion, go home. I can't allow you to create a stone for something as minor as restoring your bodies."

"What the hell is so minor about that?"

"Go home. You do not need to see the research; it's the devil's work. Once you see it, you've seen the face of hell itself."

"If its hell you're talking about, I saw the years ago, we all did!" Edward yelled.

Destiria sucked in a tight gasp of breath, her mind flicking to images of blood and steam. A dead woman, no not a woman, a thing. Destiria began to cough, air seemed harder to find all of a sudden, but she regained her composure with out making a scene.

Edward pushed a chair out of his way and headed towards the door, grabbing Destiria's wheelchair on his way. Armstrong picked up the box with Alphonse and followed.

"You know you could have just stolen the stone and ran," said Armstrong.

"No, I couldn't have robbed this town of its support, even to restore our bodies. We'll just look for another way, right?"

Al and Dessi agreed with Ed and they all sat in silence outside of the train station for a minute, until Dr. Marcoh ran up to them, out of breath and shaking. He handed Edward a folded piece of paper.

"This is where the research is hidden, look at his if you won't regret seeing the truth behind the truth. I hope one day you all will restore your bodies," Marcoh turned with out another word and walked off, Edward was too amazed to do much more than bow.

Later, while sitting on the train, Edward unfolded the piece of paper.

National Central Library

1st Branch

Tim Marcoh

"So he hid a tree in a forest," said Major Armstrong.

"Brother! This road is not yet dead!" Alphonse said with excitement obviously bubbling over in his voice.

"Yeah," said Destiria, "but it's so damn long."


End file.
